I could be wrong, but I think Danika is confusing the term therapeutic grade with the “100% Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” that doTERRA coined and uses. Some oils are labeled for aromatherapy only, and others state they are therapeutic grade which I imagine is to indicate they are also for medicinal purposes. Not referring to ingestion, but topical applications.
Asking these questions can help you to know whether you’re finding accurate information that you can trust or not. There are plenty of websites out there dedicated to teaching others about essential oils and aromatherapy whether it’s a school for essential oil studies, a company that sells essential oils, or a blogger who loves to share what she’s learning about them (and references her sources!).

Hey Shelley! Good for you for starting to add EOs to your soaps. I love scented, homemade soaps! As for what oils to mix with the ones you already have, let me direct you back to the post on blending. It will help you find other EOs to add to the ones you have and to come up with blends that work for your soaps. Figure out what categories and notes the oils you have are and then work on finding other oils that complement them. It’s hands on. You have to get oils and try out different blends and decide on what YOU like. Lastly, “apple” is not an essential oil… it’s a fragrance oil and it isn’t considered natural. If you’re going for “all natural” soaps and scents you may want to rethink that one. You could replace it with chamomile as many people think chamomile has an apple-like scent. You’ll need to decide if Roman chamomile or German Chamomile is better. Thanks for your comment, and I hope this has helped you some.

Sleep is as essential to your health as food and water. Yet we don’t often make getting a good night’s sleep enough of a priority. We even make it harder to sleep properly by incorporating things like caffeinated drinks, or huge amounts of screen time into our lives, both of which affect our brain chemistry and sleep cycles. Not to mention what stress and late nights can do to a body.
Thank you so much for this information, and the links you have provided. I’m new to this whole world of oils and thoroughly confused. One of my 9 year old sons has ADHD, Autism, severe anxiety and phobias, and a severe peanut allergy. On top of all of that he has a higher heart rate due to the anxiety and phobias setting everything else off, and cannot take any medications to help calm him down. He goes to therapy and social skills twice a week and has TSS workers at home and at school, but he still suffers and I needed to find something to help him without modern medicines in the mix. As it turns out, his therapy center is directly next door to a place called Penn Herb Company, so we ventured in to inquire about alternatives. He took a big sniff when we went in and I could see him relax. They helped me get a small stash of relaxing oils and make him a “calm down potion.” It worked every time I tried it on him before full meltdown. I am now on a mission to help him and the whole family get better without chemical medicines, but cannot spend hours in a store or classroom, or even at my computer (I have 4 boys, 2 of them not school aged yet and I stay at home to raise them) so sites like yours are now my lifeblood. Everyone else seems to have a grand opinion on a brand of oil and says the others are no good. It is so hard to decipher some of this stuff. It is awesome to have someone give the truth about different brands, and their claims. All the best to you, and thank you so much again from the bottom of this Mama’s overflowing heart!!!!
I use them in my water all the time…I only add oils to water in a glass container and I always shake the container before I take a drink and that way the oils momentarily mix and I am not getting a gulp of the oil floating on the top. That also happened to me when I first tried adding the drops of oil to my water. But now it does not happen any more because I am just in the habit of mixing right before I take a drink. Hope this is helpful.

There seems to be new essential oil companies popping up every day, but I’ve used doTERRA essential oils for nearly 4 years and I’ll never go anywhere else. The oils are third-party tested for purity (you can SMELL the difference if you compare them to other brands), ethically sourced around the globe, and I love that doTERRA is a humanitarian-geared company. Hearing stories like this of a Wellness Advocate who is working hard to help Ebola-ravaged areas of Africa makes me so proud to be associated with this company. I’m happy to personally help you get these oils in your home and tell you more about why I chose doTERRA-– click here to connect with me.

Oh, lavender essential oil is great, and I’d definitely consider it a go-to oil. It’s an easy one for beginners to use, it’s mostly safe, and it has a lot of different uses. I didn’t exclude it from the list for any particular reason. I just went through and tried to select oils with different notes so people would have a good variety of EO choices when making their blends. Hope that answers your question!
Hello! Loved the article. Very helpful! I just started using oils this past spring and got them through Young Living, however I can’t afford them and found Eden’s Garden is more reasonable for me. My question is can I blend the two brands together? I still have some YL oils left and was just going to replace the ones I’m out of with Eden’s Garden. I usually just diffuse them, but have made a cream for Hand, Foot, Mouth.
I am enjoying learning about essential oils and am appreciating them so much! Thank you for this article. I do have a question for you … How do I choose and use a diffuser? I am currently using my old scentsy burner – water with a few drops of essential oil – as a diffuser, but it evaporates so quickly and the scent is so light. I’m guessing I need a diffuser, but there are so many, I don’t know what to buy. What do you suggest for longer lasting air diffusion? Thank you!
Thank you so much for all this awesome information regarding oils and their uses as well as how to blend. Since I starting using oils, I cannot imagine my life now without them. I have been on antidepressants on and off for a big part of my life. Now with my oils, I no longer need them. Anyway, thanks again, I use your page as one of my biggest “go to” resources for my oil questions. Have a great day!
I am enjoying learning about essential oils and am appreciating them so much! Thank you for this article. I do have a question for you … How do I choose and use a diffuser? I am currently using my old scentsy burner – water with a few drops of essential oil – as a diffuser, but it evaporates so quickly and the scent is so light. I’m guessing I need a diffuser, but there are so many, I don’t know what to buy. What do you suggest for longer lasting air diffusion? Thank you!
Hi – My family and I have been using essential oils for 10 years. We are 100% believers in their healing powers. I turned essential oils into a business about 4 years ago, due to my first hand knowledge of their amazing properties. To address some of the diffuser comments and questions above, you do not need a nebulizing diffuser to enjoy the benefits of oils. Ultrasonic diffusers that use water do an excellent job of transporting oils in the air. And, though nebulizers provide an intense essential oil experience, they take a lot of oil to run and they run through that oil quickly. Now, if you’re water source is compromised, this can degrade the oil. We have, however, made a push to provide all types of diffuser options to our customers. If you don’t like plastic diffusers, we have ceramic. If you don’t want ceramic, we have glass. If you don’t want ultrasonic with water, we have nebulizing diffusers. If anyone has any questions, please reach out. We’ve been using oils daily, for a long time. Happy to answer any question or address concerns the best I can. Thanks
This makes smell unique among our senses. Information we take in from our other senses travels first to another region of the brain, the thalamus, which acts as a relay station, passing along sensory data to the other parts of the brain that produce our sensory perceptions. Only smell moves directly to the brain’s emotion and memory center. That’s why those memories you associate with the scent of garden roses, or banana bread baking in the oven, come on so quickly and so strongly.
Hey! Sorry to be commenting on such an old post, I was googling and found you. =) You have a lot of helpful information posted, I really appreciate it! I am a nursing student and I’ve just started to use essential oils for studying and test taxing anxiety. I am using lavender and rosemary because I’ve read a lot of research on these and they seem to be scientifically proven to help with testing. I also have ADHD and of course like all nursing students, a ton of test taking anxiety. I am wondering if I could combine the two oils to help me with my exams? If so what would your ratio recommendation be? The rosemary alone seems to help me concentrate a lot (probably as much as my adderall) but I feel more anxious when using it (also like when I take my adderall). The lavender alone makes me so relaxed I’m a little on the fuzzy side. I have done both of these with the diffuser and applying topically with fractioned coconut oil. When I apply topically I make a rollerball with 10mL of fractioned coconut oil and 20 drops of essential oil. Any advice or tips you can give would be greatly appreciated!
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I have a question for you….my husband has an Orthostatic Tremor which means he tremors when he stands up….not when sitting. His dr. and I believe that it was brought on my emotional stress which means it can be reversed (my husband thinks it is a lifetime sentence). It is limiting what he can do physically and emotionally is causing havic. He is on antidepresents and seeing a counselor. I believe in the healing power of essential oils…I use theives oil all the time. Do you have any suggestions for an oil mix that might help him? thank you